The Indianapolis journal., 1887-12-29

the character of worms could not be separated
from aath-opods, which signified 'sJointed-feet.
from tae worm descended the two classes. one
including beetles, bugs bees, and the IKE, ana
the other marine forms. like the shrimp, crab
ana lobster. Starting from the worm one branch
led to the crustacea, from which again sprung
another ending in the spider. In the other
branch the hexapods, or the slx-footed
forms. He traced the similarity of all these
with their common origin as evidenced by their
organs of breathing. and other functions. He
concluded that anthropods must be divided diff
ferently from the systems finds in the ordi
narv textbooks.
Amos w. Butler. of Brookville. read paper
on THE Rare Birds of Indiana" among which
be mentioned the greater snow-goose, found at
Chalmers. the blue goose, golden-eye barrows
seen On the lower Wabash, and the long tailed
duck. The latter species is migrant in the
spring and fall IN Lake Michigan, and accord
ing to j. W. Byrkis. it has been caught in gill
nets in from twenty to thirty fathoms of water.
Air. Butter told of one that had been shot near
Franklin. Other birds mentioned the
heron. noticed Brookville; the red throated
loon, seen IN Carroll county and near Chalmers.
the American scaup duck, taken near Terre
6aute; American white-fronted goose, found on
English Lake; the white and wood ibis. which
visits the Wabash region; wurdermans, and the
little blue heron, which are met with or the low
er Wabash; the yellow crowned night heron;
tie belled- piping ployer, the latter having been
seen on Wolf creek. Lake county; the yellow
rail. found in English Lake. and the swallaw
tailed and Mississippi kite, seen the Wabash
The short-eared and snowy owl, the ivory-billed
woodpecker, the chuckwills widow the horned
lark, yellow headed blackbird. evening and pine
grosbeck, white winged crossbill, Holbode's red
poll. the Lapland longspur> >Henslow and Nelson
sparrow, Bohemian waxwing, Swansons warb-
Ter and Grinnelrs water thrush were also emu
merated.
Maurice Thompson, the State Geoloeist. sub
mitted short paper 1.-The Secondary Func-
tions of the Hyoid Cornua in Picus and Colap-
tes." 1t is a subject treated in popular form IN
his little book 'Sylvan Secrets" and refers to the
picus and colaptes woodpeckers make of their
tongues Birds are not possessed Of fine hear @
ing. and in woodpeckers it is especially dull The
tongue bones of these two kinds are so con-
structed as to assist them in locating their food
The plcus detects the movement OF the worm by
his tongue, as it aids him in hearing since the
slightest vibration is communicated by the brain
to the ear. The colaptes feels for his food and
the hndlne of 1t Is communicated TO the plros
brain by the bones of his tongue.
Amos w. Butler offered some suggestions con-
corning law for the protection of birds. He
said that the useless destruction OF Insectivir-
Gus, bright -plumaged and song birds that was
going on to crafty the whims of fashion
would soon e1tnguish them There is necessi-
ty for their protection and the proper place to
begin the work to secure it is in the Academy.
Indiana has a crude oird-law. but it is of no
value whatever. as it presents enough technical
questions to prevent conviction of offenders.
The New York Law is the best, and it's passage
obtained by the American Onitho-
logical Society It makes it illegal to
kill any wild bird, destroy their nests,
but exception is made of game birds 1t is
provided. though, that birds be used for
scientific purposes, but the scientist in procur-
ing them, must have an official permit, which is
made good for two years The Massachusetts
law also has been successfully enforced. MIR.
Butler presented resolution providing for a
committee of the academy to draft law for
this purpose. and submit il to the next General
Assembly. 1t was adopted and Mr.. Butler, d:
S. Jordan and g. W. Everran were appointed
to carry out the purpose pressed.
ID. s. Jordan gave tertaining talk on 1.-THE
Origin of Genera" in which he said the popular
acceptation was that the genus was an exagger-
alton of species. 1t is difficult to select any
character to distin guish ore genus from another.
There is such divergence in variety of ways
that it is sometimes hard to trace apparently
similar groups to common origin Professor
Cope maintains that one character defines genus,
while the others are regarded as subsidiary. He
holds that they are like steps which may differ
from each other in some small particulars. He
would consider nothing different in genera un-
less there was sudden jag, breaking of. as it
were from continuous line. The speaker,
however, thought genus to be matter of con-
venience merely, ana that when sharp lines of
classify in this way. He did not think there
could be any single way in which genera can
arise.
G. W. Hargitt OF Moore's Hill College, called
attention, briefly, to the monstrosities in egg
formation. He cited an instance in the Cincin-
natl Geological Garden where an ostrich broke
one of its legs in laying egg abnormally large
and another of turkey that laid an egg in
which was found a perfect hens egg. Professor
evidences of the unnatural, but submitted item
for the investigation of those who took an inter
est In such matters.
In the evening, TO an audience that filled the
courtroom. Prof. j. M. Coulter. president of
the academy. delivered his address "Evolu-
ton in the Plant Kingdom" His purpose was
neither to explain nor defend evolution, but to
give an illustration of how it works in the plant
kingdom, chiefly because illustrations of this
law are commonly taken from the animal king
dom, and because the operation of the law
among plants even more striking One who
staggers at the evolution of the lorse find
among plants such interminable intergrading
- 1e
the past, when they were arrayed like
puppets that popped up in their
places when called for. always looked
alike, and were perfectly expressonless- Zoolo-
gists are fortunate in having their stock in
trade forms of life in which man is specially in
terested. The public that listens with pricked-
evolution of birds, mammals and man, and thus
brings a certain popularity to zoology, cares
not q straw for the wonderful structures of
gymnosperms aud lycopods. although furnish
ing irresistible arguments in favor of a theory
that has revolutonized scientific thought He |
made no attempt to outline a great scheme into
fall; If he were younger, or less ac- |
quainted with botany he could do this
have family tree arrangement |
for plants, and will not attempt its construction
until they know more about the life histories of |
the lower groups. and more about structure in all
the groups. In the light of modern research |
the old distinction between cryptogams and /
phanerogams vanshes. and it is found that the |
continuous development of various structures,
from the lowest groups to the highest has COM |
pelled them to consider lines of classification
rather arbitrary. and drawn but for convenience |
"A sort of pigeon-hoe arrangement by means of |
which one can distribute his facts.
1t seems probable that the plant kingdom be- |
gan in such forms the common green slime |
found staining foundation stones and bark, q |
sin nglecelled. chlorophylbearngp plant From
this point the speaker took the single function |
Of sex-reproduction, and traced its gradual de-
velopment to the highest plants. He showed
how the lowest plants were sexlsss: that pres
,ntly one-sexed plants were developed, that is,
plants in which the differed in no respect
Presently bsexuality was reached, and the goal
n this direction attained. Afterwards the idea
If protection appeared, and was gradually
worked out" to the complete protection that
appears in the highest groups The speaker
.lso showed the beginnings of what is called
alternate generation" very high-erade char
lcter. and one so conspicuous i'll the animal
lingdom
Following the address the short papers were
esumed, c. w. Hargitt giving notes a visit